


With You, Anywhere

by Dreamy_Ideal



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, mentions of drinking, wizard junmyeon, wizard yixing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-03-12 21:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13556130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamy_Ideal/pseuds/Dreamy_Ideal
Summary: Like clockwork, every month just after dawn Yixing's supplier Minseok stopped by his house so he could buy what he needed to work for the following month. It had been like that for years, until a dragon encounter caused him to be replaced by his apprentice Junmyeon.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> first and most important things first: thank you to my prompter! this fic is for prompt #263 that i adopted from 1001 Tales Fic Fest, the very awesome sulay fest i participated in! i had so much fun with this one, this was also a big part of helping me with my writer's block even though i wasn't able to get it done in time for the fest because i am a slow writer ;A; anyway, this is going to be a two parter, so i hope you enjoy the first!

“I didn’t know if I should call on you. There’s no pain at all and it’s very much not in the way but, well, it’s a tail.”

 

Yixing smiled warmly at Qiaoen who stood beside him as he spoke with her mother. “It is a tail,” he agreed. “And a stubborn one. Did you grow that yourself?” She looked up at him with a proud expression, said tail wagging lightly behind her.

 

“I think so! Can I keep it?” Yixing looked back up at Xiaolu who glanced at Qiaoen with a silent warning in her eyes. The girl deflated. “No more tail,” she sighed.

 

“Tail for a little while more,” Yixing corrected. He held up a hand as the mother’s eyes widened. “It is a stubborn tail. I could spell it away now, but not without a lot of pain for Qiaoen.” Yixing spared her the detail about how there was a very real chance that it could grow back. “In three days my supplier will be in the village and I will be able to buy what I need for a safer spell.”

 

“Three more days with my tail Mama!”

 

Yixing said he would be able to get the ingredients for his spell after three days, but when that day came he worried that he unintentionally lied. Minseok was normally by his house shortly after dawn to drop off his staple ingredients, and Yixing woke early this month around so he could catch him and ask him about the root he needed for Qiaoen’s spell, but after waiting all morning Minseok hadn’t showed up.

 

In the many years Minseok had been delivering to Yixing he’d never been late, nor had he missed a month, so when midday arrived with Minseok Yixing started to worry. He made the trip so many times that he couldn’t have gotten himself lost. Did he hurt himself? Was he dead? As midday bled into evening all Yixing could do was hope that nothing bad happened to the other wizard, and if it did that it happened quickly and painlessly.

 

Since he was no longer waiting on anything Yixing left his house on the outskirts of the village so he could get his bread from the baker and tell Qiaoen’s mom that she would have to endure the tail for a while longer. Not that there was anything to really endure; Yixing believed the most bothersome thing about it would be trying to keep it clean—

 

“Oh, hey, excuse me! Wizard!”

 

Though the folk that lived there considered their village to be a small one, there was still a bit of walking Yixing had to do to get from his house at the edge to where everyone else lived, and somewhere right around the middle of it was a booth. A booth that very much wasn’t there the day before when Yixing made the walk home from the village.

 

Yixing stopped as soon as he was addressed. He didn’t recognize the man standing behind the booth, and even if he did Yixing would have been wary about why he decided to set up whatever he was doing on the side of the road. “Who are you?”

 

“My name is Junmyeon,” he called out, waving to Yixing. Though he spoke in Yixing’s tongue his words had a heavy accent to them. “I’m Minseok’s apprentice! I was at least!”

 

That was when Yixing took notice of the robe the man was wearing. Light blue with a high, buttoned collar and an insignia of a phoenix on one of the long sleeves, identical to the one Minseok wore. He approached the booth, his moves cautious. “What happened to Minseok?”

 

“I’m taking over for him,” the man said to him as he neared. “There was a dragon--”

 

“Dragon? Is he dead?”

 

“Happily married,” he replied to Yixing’s confusion. For a second he thought the other man may have mixed his words but he pressed on with, “the ceremony was just a few days ago. It was nice. I think now they’re going to move together into the mountains. I’ve been promised at least one visit.”

 

“You can marry a dragon?”

 

“Of course, if you can catch one and love it enough.” Junmyeon said it so nonchalantly that Yixing believed that he missed some important detail that Minseok may have dropped into one of their many small talks. He thought to the most recent of them to see if anything stuck out.

 

“Will he be back?” Yixing asked when he failed to come up with anything and decided to let the topic of dragon marriage drop entirely. Junmyeon shook his head.

 

“He said he wanted to take his chance to open up a shop close to home. He’s getting too old to travel, if you listen to what he says. But you’re still in good hands with me, I uphold all of Master Minseok’s standards.”

 

Yixing stopped directly in front of the booth. That in itself was very different from what he was used to; Minseok did his dealings out of a small wagon, all of his goods wrapped and tucked away with the customer’s name carefully written on their packages. Junmyeon’s booth had everything right out in the open: bundles of herbs hung from the top and along the sides, a variety of clay jars with powers and seeds and crushed gems sat along the counter tops with their names sitting on small cards in front of them (they were in Magick Common when he first looked at them but a blink turned them into Yixing’s mother tongue), small bags of mystery items hung down off the edge of the counter. The counter itself was dusty and stained, perhaps with the remains of what was crushed and juiced.

 

“All but order.” In the corner of the booth’s counter beside a jar of teeth (not human but not so far from human that he could place what creature it came from off of the top of his head) sat a rabbit, looking at Yixing. It started to turn and scoot in his direction. Junmyeon grabbed it before it could hop anywhere. In one smooth motion he tucked the little animal under the wide brimmed hat sitting on his head.

 

“Master would agree with you, we have different ways of keeping organized.” Only just then did Yixing realize what he said could have been seen more as rude than just an observation. Internally he grimaced and started to find words for an apology, however if Junmyeon was offended by his words he didn’t let that show or slow him down. From beneath the counter he produced a thick, leather bound book that Yixing did remember seeing with Minseok during many of his stops in the village.

 

With a heavy thump it dropped onto the counter, flipping itself open. “You’re Yixing,” Junmyeon said before the pages finished sorting through themselves. His smiled widened after Yixing nodded. “Master made special mention of you. He said you were the only wizard for some miles around here.”

 

“I am.” Some miles was something of an understatement; considering how close their nearest neighbor and trade partners were he was the only wizard for some days around.

 

“That has to be a lot of responsibility.”

 

“It can be,” Yixing agreed. “But it’s been like this for a long time for me. I can carry it.” The pages of Junmyeon’s book slowed to a stop. A small ball of light appeared beside the other wizard as he leaned down to read the pages.

 

“I hope I can help you in carrying it a little more easily.” Yixing offered him a little smile, though it may have been missed as Junmyeon dipped down behind the booth just a second later. When he came back up he had a familiar bundle in his hands. By Junmyeon’s light he could see the familiar scrawl of Minseok’s hand on the side. He took it from the wizard and handed him the few gold coins he was owned. Junmyeon bowed once his hands were free. “I’ll still keep master’s schedule, so I’ll be by once a month. Next time I’ll have my booth in the village.”

 

“Why didn’t you do that this time?”

 

“He told me to meet you along the ‘only road’. I didn’t want to knock on everyone’s door to find you, so I decided to wait here until you showed up.”

 

Junmyeon stepped from around the booth and gave a whistle, short and sharp. Taking the place of the booth was a large backpack that the other wizard hoisted onto his back, grunting as he did. Yixing couldn’t pick up on what kind of wizard the other man was based on nothing but one light spell and compacting spell, but since he already mistake of the tongue that evening he decided not to risk making another. Having taken Minseok’s place, Junmyeon was the only magical supplier that bothered to come to the village with any regularity, and Yixing didn’t want to lose that thanks to a social slip up.

 

“Well, until next month--”

 

“Wait!” The light spell Junmyeon produced remained outside of his bag, and in its glow Yixing could glimpse the sheepish expression on the other man’s face. “Would you mind showing me to your village’s inn?”

 

Yixing took out a spell that was sitting in the hairpin sticking out of his ponytail, using it to help light the way as he walked with Junmyeon into the main square of the village. “Your Mandarin is very good.” Yixing broke the silence after a few minutes of walking, the village not all that much father away from them.

 

“Oh, no, I’m still practicing,” Junmyeon replied with a soft laugh. “I’m surprised I could keep up with you.”

 

“Where did you learn?”

 

“A blacksmith in our city has parents who came from here. Yifan.” Yixing’s face lit up in immediate recognition.

 

“Wu Yifan? He left so long ago, we never knew what happened to him.” He remembered the last day he saw Yifan, back when they were teenagers. He told Yixing that he was running away from home, that he felt if he stayed in the village any longer that he would not only die but that something would come for him. Nothing he knew, nothing tangible, but still something. Yixing was the only one that could understand it, he had said. He did and he still did. “He became a blacksmith?”

 

“Famed,” Junmyeon said. “He created the sword given to Lady Byun that was used to strike down the great Griffin Immortal and end over a decade of corruption and demon possession in the capital and he helped forge the staff used to seal the evil away in the great willow tree when it let go of all of its human bonds and made one last attempt to destroy the capital and corrupt every living thing within it.”

 

Yixing’s jaw could have dropped to his toes. “Really?”

 

“Yes. I was there for the battle! And right at the center of it all was our master Minseok.”

 

If Yixing’s jaw had already hit his toes then it was going to start digging a hole to the core of the earth. “Minseok, really?”

 

Junmyeon stopped and Yixing stopped alongside him. The village was within eyeshot, the soft glow of the lanterns lining the road cutting into the darkness. Junmyeon whistled three times in three different tones and after each whistle a light appeared: one green, one blue, one red. They hung briefly at eye level before dancing around. In the trails they left behind pictures were created, the most prominent of them being a drooping willow formed of all three colors.

 

“Here we are at the last moments of battle.” Junmyeon waved his hand at all of the green squiggles that were scattered around the foot of the tree. “Griffin Immortal has let go of all of the people it turned into puppets. They’re alive, just unconscious and very tired. With our guards down for just a moment, Master Minseok and Lady Byun turn to us and tell us to tend to the wounded and the weak. We try to, but before we could touch one solider or a civilian--”

 

Another whistle and the tree was enveloped by a silver light that appeared to rush upwards. “Griffin Immortal rises again with a burst of energy that pushes us all back.” The little blue bodies that were standing toppled backwards in accordance to Junmyeon’s words. “Griffin’s influence up until then had barely touched wizards, however this new energy was powerful to eat at us. Slowly, but still, it was only a matter of time before we fell pray to the Griffin’s will.”

 

The red light began to dance again, forming a multitude of six legged creatures that clustered around the standing lights. “And of course here are Griffin’s minions to help ensure that we put up as little of a fight as possible. But we fight on.” The blue bodies pushed back against the red clusters to various degrees of success and failure. Yixing’s eyes were drawn to a pink light that Junmyeon whistled up to form two more bodies than entered the fight on the successful side. “With Lady Byun and Master Minseok leading the way we fight on. But we’re losing strength and losing hope.” Blue bodies began to fall one by one. “However, like in all stories of this magnitude, just when you think hope is gone, that’s when hope arrives just to prove you wrong.”

 

Yixing watched as a gold light formed a body that came speeding into the scene. “And here is Yifan, this idiot, charging in. Not a drop of magic in him and he’s racing right to the energy that’s strong enough to break down wizards. He could crumble in an instant.” Junmyeon scoot closer to Yixing and pointed at one of the blue lights. “That’s me. I see him, a sword in his hands and staff attached to his back and maybe I should be thinking ah here’s that hope, but I’m thinking, ah this idiot. I think of a spell to throw him back, but then I hear Master Minseok’s voice over the battle. He’s calling to Yifan. Yifan needs to get to Master. I’m weak and cold and I hear the Griffin’s voice in my head telling me to serve, but I fight just a little more, and throw all my magic into a protection spell to surround Yifan. It won’t hold for long, but I think, maybe it can hold for long enough.”

 

Yifan’s light was surrounded in a dim blue gold. The little Wu continued to glide across the scene, swinging its sword at the red lights that charged in his direction.

 

“Why doesn’t Minseok call the staff to him?” Yixing asks in a nervous breath.

 

“Even the most powerful wizards have to touch the staff before it can be called, and this one is only just done. The battle took Minseok away from Yifan’s forge that day, he couldn’t lay his hands on it. Yifan’s _got_ to get to him. But Griffin’s not going to let that happen.”

 

The number of red lights triple. Yixing pressed a hand over his mouth. They moved to surround the figures of Lady Byun and Master Minseok. “Things are getting dark around me and I can barely hold the spell a second more.” Junmyeon’s figure drops down. Yixing reaches out to grab a bit of Junmyeon’s long sleeve. “Hope is gone again, but, hope is a stubborn bastard.”

 

The red lights that started to cluster over Lady Byun and Master Minseok are blasted away. “A spell forged inside the sword, just one shot. One blast, and that gives Yifan and Master all the time they need.”

 

Yifan and Minseok’s figures meet, followed by a blast of white light that takes over the whole scene. “It rains for seven days and seven nights afterwards, the rain purifying everything in the capital.” When the light fades away Yixing sees the willow tree made up only of the gold color. “Including Griffin Immortal, sealed away in the great willow tree. And every day on the anniversary of that battle, we start a week long celebration in honor of our heroes, among them Wu Yifan, not even barely a man at that time but a teen like the rest of us, that recklessly ran into battle to deliver the great staff that ended the Griffin Immortal.”

 

All of the lights carried themselves away to the tune of a low whistle. “He’s still pretty shy about it. It’s been 12 years and he still won’t come to any of the parades.”

 

Yixing continued to stare at the spot where the scene had been, eyes wide in awe. It sounded like something straight out of a history book and it happened in his lifetime. And its heroes included the boy who ran away from their village when they were children and the wizard that brought him herbs and trinkets every month and occasionally chat with him about books.

 

“Minseok never mentioned any of this,” Yixing said softly. He imagined it would be a hard thing to work into conversation but Yixing asked once or twice what kind of work the merchant used to do and he always said that he was ‘just’ a teacher. The story that Junmyeon just told him qualified Minseok as more than ‘just’ anything in his mind.

 

“He doesn’t like to talk about it.” Junmyeon began to walk down the road again, his sleeve pulling gently out of Yixing’s grip as he moved. Yixing remembered then what he was supposed to be doing and followed after him. “After the battle was when he decided to stop teaching once my class graduated. It wasn’t the battle itself, but a lot of the politics in the months leading up to it that left him feeling sour.”

 

Junmyeon didn’t go into details about said politics and out of respect for his former merchant Yixing pushed away his curiosity and didn’t ask for any clarification. Instead he said, “you were honored as a hero as well?”

 

“Oh no no no.” Junmyeon shook his head and his hands. “I didn’t really do anything but stay alive.”

 

“But your protection spell!”

 

“Anyone of us could have done that, I was just the one Yifan happened to past first. Besides, I couldn’t hold it for long. Yifan and Lady Byun were the ones that made those seconds count.”

 

They walked again in silence until they reached the inn. Yixing looked up to make sure the sign was turned to the vacancy side. “Thank you. Next month I won’t be such a bother.” Junmyeon bowed his head as he pushed the door open. The smell of cinnamon and nutmeg wafted out alongside the sound of soft music. “Until then--”

 

“I think you’re a hero,” Yixing said quickly. Junmyeon stopped halfway through the door, looking back at him. “Heroism isn’t always big things. Anyone could have casted that spell, but you did. Yifan’s not the only shy one.” The other wizard turned back towards him, and Yixing’s heart did a little jump in the wake of the smile he was given, a little different from the ones he received before.

 

“Until next month,” he echoed, his voice softer than before. He slipped into the inn, and it wasn’t until Yixing was lying in bed repeating the story in his head for the 100th time that he remembered the spell ingredient he was supposed to ask after. Oh well. Qiaoen would be happy to know she could keep her tail for a few more weeks.

 

\--

 

Junmyeon said that he would return in a month but he never made mention of what time he would be back. Afraid that he might miss the man due to a tight travelling schedule Yixing rose with the sun to go into the village, even though he was dragging and glaring at the light the entire time. When he arrived it was quiet; the only other soul outside was the baker shuffling his way to the bakery.

 

With no sign of the merchant wizard Yixing went to the inn for breakfast. Of course Xiaolu was awake and at the counter when he stepped inside and she happily shooed him to a table in the dining area to wait while he fixed him something. Yixing dropped into the nearest chair without an ounce of grace, and with a yawn he put his head down on the tabletop and fell asleep almost at once.

 

“Brother Yixing.”

 

Yixing grumbled at the feeling of his leg being nudged. He cracked his eye open, then blinked until the blurry figure beside him took shape. Qiaoen stood there, and her tail flicked behind her a little faster as he grumbled his way to life.

 

“What time is it?”

 

“Noontime.” He wasn’t surprised. “Mama said not to try to wake you up.” Again he wasn’t surprised, by the order or Qiaoen ignoring it. Thankfully the little girl did go through with bothering him, otherwise he would have slept at that table all day. “It’s tea time. I wanted to have tea together.”

 

Yixing sat up and yawned heavily. “We’ll have tea together,” he agreed, putting on the best smile he could manage less than a minute after waking up. Qiaoen flashed her own big smile at him, tongue peaking through the gap where her front tooth was slowly growing back in.

 

“There’s a man selling tea outside. Let’s buy some to try.”

 

She took his hand and he slowly obeyed her insistent tugging and followed her outside. Squinting against the light of the sun, he let Qiaoen lead him along while his eyes adjusted. By the time he felt like he could open his eyes without them being burned from their sockets they were coming to a stop.

 

“Good afternoon Yixing.” He almost wanted to squint to protect his eyes from Junmyeon’s smile. They exchanged small bows. “Has the month treated you kindly?”

 

“It’s treated me quietly,” Yixing replied with a soft smile.

 

“I see it’s given you time to sleep well.” Junmyeon laughed after Yixing pulled a face in question. Down beside him Qiaoen giggled as well. Junmyeon pointed to the side of his own head and Yixing reached up to touch his own in reply.

 

“Brother’s hair is messy,” Qiaoen said in a not so whispered whisper. Junmyeon, still laughing somewhat, reached above him into the canopy of his cart and pulled down a small mirror hanging by a string. Yixing frowned deeper (and more hysterically, apparently) when he saw that a handful of hair had come free of his bun and was sticking out every which way. He also had a trail of dried drool running down the side of his mouth. Charming.

 

“Ah, yes, I did have a good nap,” he chuckled shortly. One hand tried to smooth out the mess of hair while the other thumped down on top of Qiaoen’s head. “Why did you let brother go out looking like this? You’re supposed to look out for your elders.” He tapped her again, which made her bring up her hands to protect the top of her head and pout up at him.

 

“We had to hurry out before tea time is over!”

 

“It’s okay,” Junmyeon said. “Your big brother is still cute.”

 

“Handsome,” Yixing corrected with a pout of his own. It was instinct at this point to defend his handsomeness in the face of being called cute by his elders, lest he be cute his whole life. He didn’t really realize what he did until he started to take down his bun. His cheeks turned a light shade of red, more embarrassed by the verbal mishap than he was about walking outside with bed hair and traces of drool.

 

“Handsome too.” Yixing ignored the increase of red in his face that he spotted in the mirror.

 

“Fairy tea!” Yixing’s eyes turned to where Qiaoen was pointing and moving to. Junmyeon’s cart had gotten longer since the last time he was there. At the far end of the cart there was an assortment of glass jars and sacks sitting under a sign that hung from the canopy. _Teas and Spices_. They were separate from all of the magic supplies that he carried the month prior; those were sitting under a sign that read _NOT Teas and Spices_. A smaller sign right beneath that read _no really!_

“You sell tea as well?”

 

“Yes. I sold tea in the capital before I graduated and became Minseok’s apprentice. I missed it, so I wanted to see if I could sell both tea and magic supplies.” Junmyeon scoot the two steps over to the tea side of the booth. “So far no one’s accidentally brewed anything that they shouldn’t.”

 

“How could they with such a clear sign?” Junmyeon responded to his teasing with a little grin. Yixing didn’t know how much warmer his cheeks could get.

 

“Is the tea made of Fairies?” Qiaoen, her eyes barely over the top of the counter, tried to paw at the glittering pink and yellow bag sitting out of her reach.

 

“It’s not made out of Fairies, it’s made by Fairies.”

 

Yixing moved the two steps to the tea side of cart as well, abandoning the work on his hair so he could keep Qiaoen from grabbing or breaking anything important. He thought Junmyeon was going to cut her off as well, but instead he pulled a bag from under his cart and began to scoop some of the glittery tea into it.

 

“Aren’t Fairies too small to make tea?”

 

Junmyeon sputtered. “Not the one I know. He’s much taller than me. Me and your brother Yixing.”

 

“He!? There are boy Fairies!?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Is he pretty? Does he have wings?”

 

“Yes and yes!”

 

Qiaoen barraged Junmyeon with questions and the other wizard answered every one kindly and patiently. He worked as he entertained her, wrapping the little bag he got for her with a ribbon and briefly stepping back to the not tea and spices side of the car to get Yixing’s usual order.

 

After a couple of minutes Yixing jumped in to rescue the merchant. “Qiaoen, why don’t you go back to the inn and get everything ready for tea? If we miss tea time we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” That got her at once. She gasped and held her hands out to Junmyeon who dropped the small bag of tea into her hands. As soon as he had it in her grasp she started to run back. “Manners manners manners.”

 

“Thank you!” she shouted over her shoulder.

 

“She’s a sweet girl,” Junmyeon remarked as he waved to her retreating form. Yixing nodded.

 

“A lot of energy too. She’s our biggest handful.” He glanced to the sparkling bag that caught Qiaoen’s interest and sent her running for Yixing. “Was that really made by Fairies?”

 

“A Fairy, yes. It’s authentic Fairy tea. Not everyone can honestly say they have it. You can create a halfway decent imitation with cinnamon and--” Junmyeon bit his lip. “I won’t bore you with the details.”

 

Yixing wanted to be bored with it; the way Junmyeon’s eyes suddenly lit up sparked his curiosity in the same way the tea did Qiaoen’s. “Why don’t you join us for tea?” he asked after supplies and money exchanged hands. “If you don’t mind Qiaoen talking your ear off for a little longer.”

 

“I’d be happy to,” Junmyeon accepted without a second of thought. “I think you two were my only customers for today.” That came to no surprise to Yixing. They had their fair share of merchants from outside the village that they traded with and bought from, however Junmyeon was clearly a wizard, and of the few wizards that came into town in the course of a lifetime they all came with the intent to see a Zhang. They more than likely had some questions about why he was waiting out in the open for their wizard but ultimately left him be to whatever magic business he was in the village for.

 

Junmyeon whistled his cart away, this time into a satchel that he hoisted onto his shoulder before falling into step beside Yixing. “You perform your spells by whistling? It’s nice.” The other wizard went a little wide-eyed as he shook his head.

 

“No, that, that’s a…I can’t translate this… _pocket spell?_ ” Yixing picked up on the last bit in Magick Common and laughed awkwardly as he wracked his brain for the proper translation.

 

“Quick magic,” he concluded after a few beats. “I think.”

 

“Are they called something else?”

 

Another sheepish laugh got out of Yixing before he could stop it. “My father called it lazy magic or junk magic.” At least this time he knew he was putting his foot into his mouth before it went in there. But Junmyeon laughed about it, clapping his hands together a few times.

 

“He’s not wrong. I wrote that spell in maybe half an hour because I got tired of doing a whole chant just to pack my cart away everyday.” It was Yixing’s turn to go wide-eyed.

 

“You’re a spell writer?” Yixing had a whole bookcase dedicated just to the study and practice of spell writing. He was amazed by it, spent a lot of his childhood working on it alongside his family’s craft, but he could never get it to work for him. The only spell he managed to write and cast lost him his nose for several very frightening seconds. After his father got it back for him they agreed that it was better that he left spell writing as a theory for a good long time.

 

“It was one of my majors in school. Don’t—don’t look at me like that,” Junmyeon chuckled as Yixing all but marveled at him. He couldn’t help himself. “I was the only one in my class but there were at least 3 others in my school that did.”

 

“Wow, 3? Never mind then, that’s so many, Junmyeon’s magic is so common. I tripped in the dark yesterday, I think it was a spell writer I tripped over.” Yixing used the same dry tone of voice he did when he was chastising Qiaoen for letting him walk out messy and it had Junmyeon clapping and laughing once again.

 

“Okay, okay, so maybe I’m trying to be modest. But I haven’t written any big spells in a while, just the junk magic.” Yixing immediately regretted giving the name his father used for it. Of course a man that downplayed his part in defeating a being with the word ‘immortal’ in its name would call his magic junk. His curiosity kept him from pushing the man to accept his words.

 

“How do you get it to work by whistling?”

 

“That’s my signature,” Junmyeon said with a wink. “I can’t give that away.”

 

“But is it in the math or--”

 

Yixing felt a lot like Qiaoen asking about her fairy tea as he prodded Junmyeon about his quick spell while they made the short walk back to the inn. Unlike with her, however, the only answer Yixing got was variations of ‘it’s a secret’.

 

“Ah, okay, keep your secret.” Yixing gave up as he pushed his way through the door of the inn. “It will make it better when I figure it out.”

 

On the table that Yixing slept at this morning was a tea set with two cups set out. “Qiaoen! Bring another teacup, brother Junmyeon is joining us!”

 

“Okay!” Her voice came back from the kitchen. About a second later she popped out, carefully placing a cup and saucer in front of the chair Junmyeon was pulling out.

 

“Thank you.” Junmyeon sat down and hung hat on the back of his seat, the long point of it settling on the floor. With a smirk Yixing pat his own head, making Junmyeon reach to smooth down his hat hair. He then dragged his thumb against the corner of his mouth, reminding Yixing that he still had a dried trail of drool going down it. Junmyeon snickered as Yixing licked his thumb and wiped it away.

 

“You’re a wizard, right brother Junmyeon?” Qiaoen came back to the table with a plate of cookies.

 

“I am.”

 

“Are you as strong as Brother Yixing?”

 

“I don’t know. How strong is he?” Qiaoen settled herself into the chair beside Junmyeon, leaving Yixing to his next to her after he poured everyone’s tea.

 

“I’m not--”

 

“Mama says when he was my age that the ground was dying here cause there was a plague and no one could grow food but Brother Yixing healed everything by himself and if he could do that then I can clean my room.” Qiaoen got everything out in one quick breath that Yixing couldn’t interrupt. Junmyeon looked up at him.

 

“How old are you sweetie?”

 

“I’m almost 6!”

 

“You cured a plague when you were 6?” Yixing was trying to fight against the heat creeping up in his face. No one had ever brought that up as anything more than a just a point of fact or, as Qiaoen demonstrated, as a way to get kids to do their chores cause if their favorite wizard could cure a plague on their own surely they could go out and help in the garden. Junmyeon used the same kind of awe in his tone that was in Yixing’s when he spoke of Griffin Immortal.

 

“You saved the capital from an evil spirit!”

 

“I summoned a barrier! And I did it as an adult!”

 

“Teenager!”

 

“Not a 6 year old! I don’t remember what I did at 6 but I can tell you it wasn’t saving a whole village from starvation.”

 

“Yes, well--” Yixing couldn’t think of a retort, nothing besides blushing harder. Junmyeon picked up his teacup and he smirked behind the rim of it.

 

“I guess I’m not the only shy one.”

 

They basically had gotten into a little battle over who deserved admiration between the two of them. Yixing thought about it, smiling to himself as he sat down. That was something new.

 

“Can you tell me more about the Fairy tea brother Junmyeon?”

 

“Of course.” After one more glance over at Yixing Junmyeon turned to Qiaoen. “The Fairy that made this tea for me was Chanyeol, and he is the tallest, prettiest, most charming Fairy I know, and he gave me this tea after he shrank me down to the size of this teapot.”

 

Yixing listened silently as Junmyeon entertained Qiaoen with his story of his Fairy friend and spending a day in miniature. There were no lights this time around but Junmyeon still acted it out in a way that easily drew both of his listeners in. Before any of them knew it Xiaolu came out of the kitchen to let them know that teatime was long past over and Qiaoen needed to help her clean up the dining room to get ready for dinner.

 

“Thank you for having tea with us brother Junmyeon,” Qiaoen said, giving him a bow at her mother’s instructions. “Will you be back?”

 

“Next month. I’ll have more tea just for you, if you want to hear more stories about Chanyeol.”

 

“Yes please!”

 

“It’s a date.” Junmyeon reached over the back of the chair, settling his hat back onto his head. Yixing got up in time with him, ready to say his goodbye’s for the month, but Xiaolu pointing at her daughter made him remember what he kept forgetting when he was face to face with his new merchant.

 

“When you come next month Junmyeon, can you bring crocodile teeth with you? I need to fix the problem of Qiaoen’s tail.” Said tail drooped while Qiaoen pouted. “It appeared literally overnight and we’d rather take care of it before she gets too attached.” Junmyeon smile dropped by a fraction.

 

“But it’s such a pretty tail,” Junmyeon said to her. She gave him a big smile. “I’ll see what I can do.” He turned back to Yixing and gave a short bow. “Until next month?”

 

“Until next month. I look forward to it.”

 

\--

 

Those weren’t just empty words. Yixing did find himself looking forward to Junmyeon’s monthly visits. Junmyeon stayed for hours to talk with him after he sold Yixing his supplies and Yixing was glad for every minute that he hung around. There weren’t a lot of other villagers around his age: typically when they were old enough the villagers fled to the city to find spouses and more interesting lives, only returning when they were ready to settle back down and live their elderly years in peace and quiet. Those that did stay treated him with a respectful distance that they learned in their childhoods. They were kind but they weren’t friends, and though he protected them and healed their wounds and cared for their children they would never be. Couldn’t be. The closest thing he ever had to a friend was Yifan.

 

Junmyeon slowly became the next person to come closest. There was still respect there between them but the other wizard didn’t maintain his distance. He was constantly friendly and playful. And Yixing was excited to have someone to talk about magic with. Minseok would chat idly about it with him here and there, mostly to help him pick out the best ingredients, but Junmyeon dug into it with him. Sometimes they got so into it that debated from sun to stars, only stopping because Xiaolu came to the booth to see if Junmyeon would check in so she could turn in for the evening.

 

And it wasn’t just magic. Junmyeon talked a lot about his travels; he majored in the cultivation and collection of components of spellcasting (he said it was a fancy way of saying he learned to spot the magical weeds from normal ones) so he spent a lot of his time moving from city to city, from seas to mountains. He always had a little story to tell Yixing about his misadventures and the friends he made along the way and Yixing listened to them all eagerly, his wanderlust growing more and more with every story. He made Yixing laugh constantly and he always listened with interest when Yixing talked about what he would have done in a similar situation or what he thought things would be like.

 

Yixing began to dread the words ‘until next month’. He began to miss Junmyeon in the days between visits and found himself too eager to sleep the night before his arrival. He began to wonder if he should let himself get so excited about Junmyeon who made his living coming and going, but every time he saw Junmyeon that worry left him, swept away by the sound of his usual greeting.

 

“Have you figured it out yet?”

 

Yixing was determined to figure out how Junmyeon got his spells to work by whistling, so much so that he spent most of the month after Junmyeon refused to tell him trying to work it out on his own. As soon as he saw Junmyeon he dropped his work down on the booth counter without even greeting the wizard, and ever since then Junmyeon asked immediately upon seeing him if he had his secret worked out.

 

Yixing switched his hold on the umbrella shielding him from the falling snow so he could dig his small leather bound notebook out of his sleeve. Placing it into Junmyeon’s outstretched hand he said, “I think it was something in the catalyst that caused me to get stuck. I rewrote the whole thing.”

 

“Maybe this will be the one that works,” he said teasingly. Yixing nodded.

 

“This is the one, I can feel it.” Junmyeon reached down below his booth and brought up a magnifying glass. “You know, we’ve never discussed my reward for figuring this out.”

 

The other wizard looked up at him with the magnifying glass still held to his face, his comically large eyes making Yixing chuckle. “Reward? It’s the reward of knowing you solved my whistle puzzle.”

 

“Well of course I’ll gloat but I need something to go along with it. We can talk about it once you…” Yixing waved a hand over his still closed notebook sitting on the booth’s counter, trying to hurry Junmyeon along into reading. He started lowering the seeing aid instead. “Hurry, I really think I have it this time! What’s wrong?”

 

“You reminded me a little of a painting for a moment there,” Junmyeon said softly. “With your umbrella and the snow and your new robe, which is nice.”

 

Since it was the first month of snow Yixing finally brought his winter robe out of his closet. The only thing different from his summer robe was that it was lined with black fur around the edges and at the collar. He had it since he became an adult so a compliment on it wasn’t enough to shift his attention.

 

“Hold your charm for a moment and focus.” Junmyeon hung his head, not at all hiding his snickers as Yixing took it upon himself to open up his notebook for him.

 

“I’m reading, I am, I am.” Yixing watched him as he read, and that was when he noticed Junmyeon had a change of robes himself. It was a soft gold color with white trimming, the phoenix on his sleeve outlined in silver. The large scarf that hung around his neck was sliver as well, matching the muffs that sat on his ears. Every color complimented him so well.

 

Handsome, he thought to himself, and not for the first time. He thought it in passing at first, just another detail about Junmyeon that he could add to his mental file about him, but after a while he started to catch himself really paying attention to—

 

“Not even close. Actually I think you got further away this time.”

 

He abruptly snatched away from his briefly adoring thoughts. Incredulously he asked, “how did I get further from it?”

 

Yixing bent over, his forehead nearly touching Junmyeon’s the other man talked him through his spell and accompanying formula. “The catalyst is really nice in this version but it literally--”

 

“—undoes the rest of the spell,” Yixing finished, snapping his notebook shut and shoving it back into his sleeve. “I don’t know how I didn’t catch that before.” That was what he got for pulling several all nighters to work on it. He made a mental note to finish earlier next month so he could sleep on it and review. It was such a simple mistake, enough to make him want to kick himself.

 

Junmyeon’s smile soothed him just a bit. “It happens. You’re going to get it though.”

 

“I know. I just want to get it a little faster.”

 

“What’s the rush?”

 

“I’m ready to gloat,” he admitted. Junmyeon sputtered.

 

“No need to rush to that, please.” He handed over the little bag of Yixing’s things and tucked away the gold Yixing gave him in return. Yixing started to lean up against the counter so he could tease him a little but the booth was whistled away from him. He stumbled a few steps, kept from falling entirely by Junmyeon’s hand on his chest. “Careful.”

 

Bewildered Yixing asked, “what’s wrong?” Normally Junmyeon kept his booth up for a while after he traded with Yixing. The villagers had gotten accustom to him and sometimes bought tea from him between his conversations with Yixing.

 

“Oh, there’s no vacancy at the inn tonight. I’ll have to start my trip now if I want to avoid getting caught in any foul weather.”

 

Junmyeon was still talking, Yixing saw his lips moving, but he couldn’t focus on the words leaving his mouth in his brief moment of panic. He didn’t want Junmyeon to leave so soon. They barely spoke and he…he had nothing of importance to say to the other wizard, nothing that couldn’t wait until next month, but he still wanted to be around him.

 

“Stay with me,” Yixing cut into Junmyeon’s words. “I have a room you can stay in.” Junmyeon hesitated in putting on his bag.

 

“I couldn’t impose--”

 

“Impose, please.”

 

\--

 

“I’ll be forward and warn you now, my house is in a bit of a…chaotic state. I don’t usually have company.”

 

Junmyeon shook his head as they entered Yixing’s house. “The only reason my house is clean is because I haven’t lived there in a year.” Even with that said Yixing started flitting about once his shoes were off, picking up the odds and ends that made their homes on the floor over the days. “Really you don’t have—my gods.”

 

Yixing stopped immediately when he heard Junmyeon’s exclamation, wondering if he left something partially disgusting sitting out or if some of his underwear was out on display. Instead he saw Junmyeon slowly making his way over to the bookcase carved into the far wall of the house where all of his jarred spells sat.

 

“I can cover that, if it bothers you.”

 

Having spent his entire life around it the gentle glow and aura of the gathering of spells on the bookcase were practically background noise to him. He couldn’t even see in the dark with the light that the jars cast; he frequently stumbled around and crashed into things in his living room at night. But Junmyeon gravitating in that direction reminded him that the light could be attention grabbing.

 

He dropped the mess he had been collecting onto the bigger mess on his nearby worktable, aiming to undo the curtain that was set up for the bookcase. Junmyeon stopped him with a wave of his hand. He didn’t look Yixing’s way however. He was still staring open mouth at the spells.

 

“Don’t act like you’ve never seen magic before,” Yixing said, laughing a little in his confusion. Junmyeon went to a proper school; this had to be nothing in comparison to what he spent years living around.

 

“Not like this.” Junmyeon turned to him. Yixing loved the wonder shining in his eyes but that didn’t ease his question of Junmyeon’s behavior. “Yixing, that’s tangible magic. No one can do magic in his way anymore.”

 

“Well, clearly not, because I do. It’s the only way I can.” He wondered for a moment if it was that big of a deal, but he remembered how he reacted to Junmyeon telling him that he was a spell writer. His world was so frustratingly small. “They don’t teach magic like this anymore?”

 

“Yes, but it’s just theory. No one is able to practice this.” Junmyeon looked back to the spells. They were a mix of Yixing and his father’s; one of them had been sitting there for longer than his father could remember, another one he had finished earlier that week for one of the village farmers. “And I wondered…when he first met you lit our walk into the village with something in your hair, but I thought your hairpin was just charmed.”

 

“No, it’s the spell itself.”

 

“You…are amazing.” Yixing met Junmyeon’s eyes and, for once, he held the modesty sitting on his tongue. It was nice to be admired by someone he admired as much as Junmyeon. “How do you do it?”

 

Yixing’s smile turned wicked. “That’s a secret. I can’t give that away.”

 

He thoroughly enjoyed his moment of payback. It would have been nice to dig into another good debate about magic but he much preferred leaving Junmyeon to suffer and strain his mind trying to put the puzzle together like Yixing had been doing over the month. If it wasn’t for the festival Yixing would have allowed the other wizard to spend all night begging for hints to the answer.

 

“Come on now, we’ll miss all the fun,” Yixing said when he looked out of his window and spotted the soft orange light of sunset.

 

“But you have to be able to—fun?”

 

“It’s our winter celebration. That’s why the inn was full. We get guests from the other villages that sell and trade or just come to enjoy themselves.” Gathering his boots, Yixing sat at his worktable beside Junmyeon. “Qiaoen will be participating in the harvest dance for the first time this year, she’ll be over the moon if you’re there to see it.”

 

“Of course I’ll go to see my dumpling.” Junmyeon made it a point to see Qiaoen every time he came into the village to bring her tea and a little story and an update on her favorite Fairy Chanyeol. She adored Junmyeon with every fiber of her little being; she got about as excited as Yixing did when it was time for him to come to town. And Junmyeon appeared to adore her just as much. “I have to give her her tea, I can’t believe I nearly forgot that.”

 

Speaking of nearly forgetting… “Those teeth, do you have them?” Yixing still had to finish the tail removal spell for Qiaoen. When Junmyeon returned after he first made the request he admitted to forgetting about it, and every visit thereafter Yixing was the forgetful one, too wrapped up in their conversations to remember to ask until Junmyeon was already long gone.

 

Junmyeon frowned. He turned his eyes to his white hat, half sitting on the table and half dragging on the floor. The silence was heavy. “Would I be wrong,” he started after some worrying minutes, “to say that we’re becoming close?”

 

Yixing’s heart fluttered just a bit. “No, no not at all.”

 

“Then can I be forward?”

 

“Please.”

 

“I will never bring you anything to finish that spell.” The little grin that started to creep onto his lips disappeared. Junmyeon looked at him like he was searching something, maybe something beside Yixing’s general confusion. “How do you know she’s not a Halfling? You say that tail appeared overnight, but sometimes that’s how it is.”

 

Halfling? That couldn’t be the case. “Qiaoen’s father was human. I knew him as well as I know her mother.”

 

“And his parents?”

 

“Not them. He’s not from the village.”

 

“It could be one of them then. Or even him. It’s not always obvious. Chanyeol? You wouldn’t know he was a Fairy just looking at him. It’s—it’s not simple. But Qiaoen didn’t ask to be…other and you shouldn’t punish her for it. I can’t make you or her mother not do this, but I won’t help you.”

 

Silence dropped between them again. Yixing stared at the scattered papers and empty inkbottles that took up the majority of his table. As far as he knew everyone in the village and everyone that came to make it a home was a human. As far as he knew. He had to run that line back through his head several times.

 

“I won’t ask it of you again,” he concluded. He owed it to Qiaoen at the very least to figure out her ancestry before he did anything that could hurt her. Relief visibly spread across Junmyeon’s face. Had he been worried about Qiaoen since he asked for the teeth?

 

“I was worried you wouldn’t take it well,” he said with a smile.

 

“Did I give off that feeling?” Yixing wanted to change it if that was the case. Junmyeon gave him so much joy, he didn’t want to case the man any fear.

 

“Better safe than sorry. Dragons and Fairies and Centaurs, people love them when they’re in storybooks but treat them much differently when faced with the reality of them. Denial is usually the first step.”

 

“I don’t want to deny Qiaoen’s reality, whatever it may be.”

 

Yixing stood up when his boots were on. Junmyeon followed suit, fixing his hat and taking his scarf from the back of his chair. When they were outside Yixing let out his umbrella and moved in close to Junmyeon so he could stand under it as well.

 

“So…” Junmyeon looked at him and smiled. Could a person grow addicted to a smile? “The trick of your magic is--”

 

“A secret until you work it out.” Yixing winked. “You’ll have it by next time.”

 

\--

 

"What's the worst spell you have ever made?"

 

On his next visit Junmyeon didn’t even bother with going to the inn. His first stop was at Yixing’s door and he was more than glad to open his home again for the wizard, for that visit and every one from then on. He went from looking forward to what few hours he could snatch from Junmyeon’s time before he retired to enjoying entire nights with him. Yixing never wasted time sleeping when Junmyeon was with him and that night was no different.

 

"Do you mean worst by intent or... it doesn't matter I know the one. When nature calls you have to send the message somewhere." Junmyeon's laugh and smile were so bright that it made the embarrassment Yixing suffered worth it. He took another sip from the mug of warmed wine Junmyeon brought with him.

 

"Where did the message go?"

 

"Oh it's your turn for questions now." Though Junmyeon laughed at his evasion he didn't do anything to take the attention off of himself. "What is the one spell you wish you could write?"

 

"Teleportation."

 

“There are already teleportation spells though.” Yixing pointed his thumb over his shoulder, towards his spells. “I think I have two over there.”

 

“The spells we have now are either for teleporting things or teleporting beings very short distances. I want to write something that will take you from one end of the world to another in under an hour.” Junmyeon put down his own mug of wine and lowered himself so he was lying on his back on the floor. Yixing snorted. Junmyeon claimed to be able to hold his drink but it looked like he overestimated his skills by a lot. He still had command over his words but there was a good flush to his cheeks

 

Yixing kept his spot on the couch but inched over so he could see Junmyeon’s face better. “Where do you want to go?”

 

“Everywhere! I haven’t been anywhere enough. I’m already a nomad but if I could write that spell I would go to sleep in one city and wake in another.” Yixing bit back the wistful sigh wanting to get out of him.

 

“Pick one place for now.”

 

Junmyeon rocked his head back and forth, humming. “I can’t think of the name right now,” he concluded, laughing in time with Yixing. “But my friend Sehun studies there. Divination. And he says there’s a beautiful festival in the spring that I missed last year. I want to go. I want to go to every festival everywhere in the world.”

 

“Me too.” Instead of sighing Yixing set aside his mug and joined Junmyeon on the floor. The other wizard turned his head to look at him.

 

“We could go. To the spring festival.” Yixing must have left something slip in his expression because Junmyeon back tracked and said, “not with me. I would be there, but maybe we would just run into each other. You could go and--”

 

“I would go with you.” Yixing closed his eyes. He always thought about the world outside of his village, long before Junmyeon entered the picture. He’d have the time of his life traveling on his own. But the idea of going with Junmyeon, of listening to him eagerly explain things he read about and comparing them to what Yixing read, of him calling every piece of food he tried the best he’d ever tried, of him making friends with anything that drew breath, that was such an exciting thought.

 

“I would go anywhere with you,” he confessed. “My village is brighter in your presence. I imagine it’s the same wherever you go. I would love to see it.”

 

When he opened his eyes he found that Junmyeon had rolled over to face him. Poor heart, trying to thump out of his chest as if it too wanted to go somewhere, anywhere else with Junmyeon. He lifted his head, leaning so he could press their lips together softly. Junmyeon’s hand brushed against his cheek.

 

When their lips parted Junmyeon touched his nose to his. “We could go?” His voice was a whisper, full of hope.

 

“I would go with you.” Yixing kissed him again so he didn’t have to finish his confession.

 

He would go anywhere with Junmyeon, if only he could.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy the rest :3

Along with their check-ins to see how well the other faired with solving the secret of their magic, the topic of the spring festival came up during every visit. The month after Junmyeon brought it up—Yixing tried so hard not to think of it only as the month of their first kiss—he returned with a letter from his friend Sehun that detailed the festival for them. They spent most of their night rereading the brief history of it that they were given, along with the description of the events that took place during the three-day celebration. He even told them a little about the food they could eat and wrote part of a song that he could remember.

“So you have never been there?” Yixing asked Junmyeon after he read out the paragraph about the food another time to make it an even ten reads.

“Only once, but it barely counts. I was only there long enough to say goodbye to Sehun. I had to go back to school myself so I needed to leave right away.”

Traveling with Junmyeon to the places that he knew and loved was an exciting idea, but the thought of being with him while they both discovered something new made him ache from the desire of it. It overrode his senses, so much so that he entertained the topic much longer than he should have. With every visit Junmyeon got more and more excited and Yixing couldn’t help but be drawn in, even though he was left feeling worse. He felt sorrier for Junmyeon than he did for himself. The both painted mental pictures of them being together to ring in the spring, but Junmyeon believed that those pictures would one day be their reality.

Yixing didn’t say anything until the month right before the festival. Perhaps he waited too long, but selfishly he wanted to bask in the delusion for a little while longer. As the plans became more concrete, however, with Junmyeon speaking of bringing a wagon with him to make the journey easier on Yixing and arriving earlier so they had enough time to get to the city and meet Sehun, Yixing knew he couldn’t keep stringing the both of them along.

“I cannot leave the village.”

Yixing stretched out on his couch, letting his head rest on the fluffy pillow Junmyeon brought him several visits ago. He didn’t sleep when Junmyeon visited but that didn’t stop him from being sleepy. A deep yawn escaped him as Junmyeon came into his field of sight, leaving the messy table he had been writing at.

“Are you worried about the villagers? I can write a spell so they can reach you quickly while you’re gone.” Junmyeon sat down on the floor by the couch and Yixing smiled at him, soft and sad. 

“I’m cursed Junmyeon.”

The words felt strange on his tongue. Yixing rarely had to say it out loud; it was something that had been a matter of fact from the moment he was born. The sky was blue, fire burned, Yixing was cursed. Nothing more needed to be added to it.

Although in this case something more did need to be said. Junmyeon looked at him in question, reminding Yixing that he was the first person not from the village to learn this about him. Stifling another yawn he said, “I’m bound to this village. I can’t set foot outside of it as long as I’m alive.”

Junmyeon’s expression went from confusion to anger. Yixing remembered feeling that anger once before, ages ago. He was flattered that Junmyeon was angry on his behalf. It brought a little warmth to the sad reality. “Why? Who did this to you?”

“Not just to me, to every Zhang. My father, my grandfather, on and on. No one of my blood can leave.” Anger was swept away by confusion again. Yixing reached out to play with a tuft of Junmyeon’s brown hair as he went on. “Seven generations ago…no, it’s eight with me. Eight generations ago one of my ancestors fell in love with a woman from this village that he met while he was traveling. When he came back to court her, however, he found that she was unwilling to leave and go away with him because of her family and friends. She loved the people in this village, she couldn’t go. But he didn’t want to stay. So his answer was to kill her family and her friends and most of the villagers so she wouldn’t have a reason to stay.

“What he didn’t know was that the woman’s sister was a witch, and an extremely powerful one. He thought he killed her in her sleep, but she lived long enough to lay the curse. To pay for the blood we spilled every drop of our blood would belong to the village. We live in service until our last breath.”

Yixing yawned again, though he fought to hold it back. “We also can’t have girls, but I don’t know if that’s the same curse or another one.”

“I’m sorry,” Junmyeon said quietly. Yixing smiled, moving his hand so he could brush a thumb against his cheek. He hadn’t touched Junmyeon after the night they kissed, but he thought about it almost constantly.

“Don’t be. I deserve it.” For what had been done the least Yixing could do in return was spend his life healing the villagers and fixing the occasional plague or magical calamity they could find themselves in. The witch could have just ended their family after all. At least with the curse he got to exist and eventually got to meet Junmyeon. 

“For something you didn’t do?” It might be harder for Junmyeon to see it that way. “It’s not fair.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be,” he chuckled. “It’s why it’s a curse.” 

“That can’t be broken?”

“By no Zhang, no human sympathy…or something like that.” Was it sadness or disappointment he saw in Junmyeon’s beautiful eyes? It was hard to tell. “Anyway, you’ll have fun at the festival with Sehun. Please bring back sweet fish bread, I want to know what that is. And the prizes from your games. And cake. And tell Sehun when he finally graduates he should visit. I think I know enough about him to meet…”

Yixing’s head tipped as he dozed off for just a moment. When he jerked his eyes back open his hand was in Junmyeon’s. His lips were pressed to his knuckles as he said some words in a language he didn’t recognized.

“You’re cute when you worry,” Yixing laughed. He was relieved now that his truth was out in the open. Junmyeon turned his hand over so he could kiss Yixing’s palm. “What did you say?”

“Something to my gods. It wasn’t nice.” His addition made Yixing laugh until he saw the tears running down Junmyeon’s cheek. He was prepared for Junmyeon to be sad but not in tears. Granted, he wasn’t sobbing, but still.

As gracefully as he could he rolled off the couch and onto the floor so he could crawl and sit beside Junmyeon. “The curse isn’t contagious,” he said as he placed a hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder. “Just because I told you doesn’t mean you’re stuck here with me now too.” Junmyeon snorted.

“The way you light up when I talk about my travels…I just want you to see the world for yourself.”

“Thanks to you and your stories I’ve seen more of the world than I thought I could, and that’s enough for me.” Yixing kissed his cheek before sliding so he could rest his head on Junmyeon’s shoulder. “So you have to come back with lots of stories for me from the festival, alright?”

“I can do that for you.”

“And cake too,” Yixing added as his lids started getting too heavy to hold up. He felt an arm slip around his waist.

“You mentioned cake.”

“Then bring two please.”

\--

Yixing was surprised by Junmyeon’s arrival the following month. He expected him to be some days late because of the festival but he showed up right on time, knocking at Yixing’s door a few hours after he had his breakfast. “I thought you wouldn’t be here for another week.” He skipped right over their usual playful greeting in his bewilderment. As he stepped to the side he started running his hand through his barely brushed untied hair, trying to make himself look more presentable as Junmyeon walked inside. “You should be heading to the festival.”

“I was, but I was thinking about you all month.”

Yixing was sure that he went red; his face felt more than warm enough to show color. He considered telling Junmyeon that it was the same for him, that he easily lost track of hours thinking of Junmyeon when he was gone and it was concerning as it was thrilling but Junmyeon pressed on with something that took the red from his face and his smile with it.

“Your curse, is any of it written down? I know the witch didn’t write out a copy but--”

“Why?”

“I’m not a curse breaker, but if I know a little more maybe we could figure out--”

He could see Junmyeon’s lips moving but his words were indistinct as Yixing zoned out in thought. This was what made his thinking of Junmyeon—what he felt for Junmyeon so concerning. If it had been anyone else, if it had been so many months ago when they barely knew one another, Yixing would have just laughed and quickly pointed out the pointlessness of thinking about such a think. But now, hope was there. Just a small thread of it, but it was there, trying to creep its way into his heart while it filled his head with maybes. Maybe Junmyeon could be the one to break it, maybe they could really travel the world together, maybe—

With every maybe the hope in his heart grew. And the more it grew the more it hurt to think about his reality, and it would keep hurting until his home felt just like the prison it was meant to be.

“Do you think this is something that I never thought about before?” Yixing cut off whatever Junmyeon was saying to him.

“No, no but maybe with the both of us--”

Maybe again. Maybe the curse would break, maybe Junmyeon would break his heart, or maybe Yixing stopped things before it broke him apart.

“I’ll remain cursed,” Yixing snapped. “This isn’t some secret for you to solve like it’s a puzzle. It’s my burden and if it just took a curse breaker and a few nights of thought to fix it I wouldn’t be in this position right now!”

Junmyeon tipped his head at him, his eyes shining in confusion. "Yixing, I don't understand."

"It's not meant for you to understand. This is something for you to accept, nothing else. And if you can't then...then maybe it was wrong for us to assume that we could be close."

The words hurt him as they left his mouth, but not as much as they appeared to have hurt Junmyeon. He looked wounded with each and every syllable, to the point where Yixing couldn't even bear to face him. He walked the few steps back to his door and pulled it open, looking out at the view beyond his house. It was such a beautiful day, sunny and cloudless. There was a gentle breeze that blew some of the strands of Yixing's hair as he said, "perhaps next month it would be better for you to stay at the inn."

He could hear Junmyeon passing him but Yixing didn't dare look his way. "Until next month," he said softly without stopping. Yixing shut the door quickly behind Junmyeon so he didn't give into the temptation to call him back or watch him walk away. He was doing the right thing. Yixing knew he was doing the right thing. If it wasn't it wouldn't have felt as badly as it did.

\--

It felt bad then, but it felt even worse when Junmyeon, despite his words, did not return the following month. Back when they were making plans together, when Yixing was still entertaining the delusion that he wasn't stuck where he was, Junmyeon guessed that he would be off of his usual schedule by a few days for a while until he could make up for the time spent at the festival. With that in mind Yixing didn't think too much of the absence for the first couple of days, but when a week passed without seeing Junmyeon's booth in the village square Yixing began to fret.

The very worst case scenario was that something had happened to Junmyeon and he was dead somewhere and Yixing would never know about it. The more likely scenario was that after Yixing's moment of anger Junmyeon decided that instead of staying back at the inn he just wouldn't return to the village anymore. Maybe he was talking among his merchant friends, trying to find someone to replace him as Yixing's supplier.

That was what he wanted. Yixing had to remind himself over and over again that was what was best. It would hurt less in the long run. But it hurt so badly right in the present. Yixing didn't realize just how much Junmyeon's presence changed his life until that moment. He felt empty, and it wasn't an emptiness he could fill with his work or studies or wine. He missed Junmyeon so much. He missed his smile and his laughter, his words and insight, his stories and his dreams. It ached.

A month passed by and the ache didn't dull. Yixing barely slept, barely ate, reserved only enough strength to tend to the needs of the villagers when he had to. Had he really run Junmyeon away? All he had to do was give him the book.

Yixing took the book for himself on another one of his sleepless nights. As Junmyeon said, the witch that cursed them didn't find it in her heart to leave a copy of it for future generations, but the Zhang that she cursed wrote all of what he remembered along with the work he did to try to break the curse. The book was old and thick, filled with the research of the Zhang men that fought vainly against their fate. Yixing remember his grandfather saying that he never bothered with it, that he'd rather live his life at peace in his home instead of resenting everything about it. Kind of like how Yixing was starting to resent it now.

That was what he got for dreaming.

Yixing put the book back just as quickly as he got it out, wanting to keep himself from getting any further down the resentment path. When he slid it into place a slender book with a faded gold bind caught his attention. He never noticed before, or at least couldn't remember noticing, though he supposed that he wouldn't what with it sitting so close to the book he was trying his hardest to avoid. Yixing pulled it out, running his finger over the bare cover before flipping it open.

_'...burned his teeth clean off. I begged and begged father and grandfather to let him stay toothless, as punishment for being in our house without anyone's permission, but I got a speech about kindness and servitude and the usual. Grandfather was more on my side, said it would be a pick me up to laugh in his gummy face every morning, but since he's a farmer's son we have to treat him right lest we go hungry. Grandmother said it was fine and that she would do the laughing for us. I'll never let his mother live it down, she said. Where would we be without Grandmother?'_

Yixing recognized the tight, tidy writing that was so similar to his own. It was one of his father's journals. He looked up at the date on the first entry. His father was just a couple of years younger than Yixing currently was. It was some years before Yixing was even born if he was writing about Yixing's great grandmother; she died without ever meeting him.

Yixing's mood picked up. He'd read all of his father's journals right after he died, all 20 of them. They were all about such mundane things: his work with the villagers, events that Yixing already knew about, things about Yixing himself, but he could hear every word in his father's voice, and they were a comfort to him when he missed his presence. It felt like his father could see him wallowing and led Yixing to stumble onto a piece of him right when he needed it.

He made tea and curled onto the couch, falling easily into the pages of his father's early life. A good deal of it was the same as his older journals, rehashing of his interactions with the villagers and his studies with Yixing's great grandfather, but some of it was new, like the pages about the talks he had with Yixing's great grandmother or the rivalry he had with the 'formerly gumless Wu bastard'. He delighted in the new details but was surprised when, in the middle of all of it, he came across a love story. One that did not feature Yixing's mother.

Yixing hesitated to continue on as his father went on and on about the girl that came to the village to help her seamstress aunt in her shop. His father seemed taken with the girl at first sight, in love, but by the nature of Yixing's existence he knew it wasn't going to end well for him. He didn't know if he wanted to be taken along for the ride of his father's heartache.

The sun had come up, peeking through his living room curtains. Yixing closed the journal and his eyes for a minute. When he fell asleep he dreamt of being with Junmyeon in the snow, a dragon flying overhead as they laughed. The emptiness clawed at his chest when he woke up. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes and making tea he opened the journal again, making the decision to keep reading. Maybe his father guided him to the journal to give him advice to get over his heartbreak.

It took his father a few meetings to learn her name, Feng Mian. Though he was the smitten one she ended up being the pursuer. His father spoke often of waiting excitedly for Feng Mian to come by their house, looking for spells and remedies she didn't need but wanted 'just in case' so they could talk while she waited. One evening she teased that Yixing's father should hurry up and court her because she was losing her patience for flirting and he was over the moon.

As his father recounted his courting days he could feel his father's giddiness in his words and was reminded so much of his days with Junmyeon. How the world narrowed to just the two of them and how bright and lovely that world was. He forgot about the doomed ending lurking for him around the corner and relished in the happiness that emanated from the pages from stories of them sneaking off to see each other at night and exchanging quick notes and kisses during the day.

 _'She found out about our curse. I thought she already knew, but her aunt didn't see a reason to say anything to her until she caught us together. She says she must think’_.

The next entry was dated three months later. It was about the mundane again, his attempts at cooking and a recipe from Yixing's great grandmother. It didn't need to be spelled out for Yixing. Everything was said in the 3 month gap between entries and he understood it perfectly. Would it take him three months to get where his father was, to start the painstaking and deliberate attempt to return to his normal life? Yixing was a little disappointed by the lack of actual strategy but did appreciate the little reinforcement of 'life goes on'. 

His mother made her appearance several months later. Min Min, the woman that inherited a house from her cousin and was in the village just to clear it away and do what she could with the house. Again his father found himself being pursued but his guard was up. It took months and, according to his father, nearly giving up on her part for him to open up. He told her at once that he was cursed and he couldn't ask her to stay but she said 'you can ask me anything but let me decide the answer on my own'.

And then the happiness and light returned to the pages again and the amount only increased day by day. As Yixing began to near the last pages of the journal Min Min became Zhang Min Min and was pregnant with Yixing. And his father began to--work on the curse. Yixing stared at the page in surprise. He didn't know that his father tried to break it.

As though he knew Yixing would be reading his journal and would be shocked by the discovery the next entry explained why. _'My father was resigned to this, I won't be. Even if the curse never lifts the fight, or the submission, is what makes it a prison. To live is to fight. We've paid enough for the sin of our ancestor, I won't pay with every single second of my life. I owe it to my son to live.'_ Yixing read the paragraph over and over, beginning to smile to himself. 

"I have the wisest father, thank you."

\--

His father wisdom may have come a little too late to fix things with Junmyeon. Another month passed without a visit from the merchant. Yixing started to really worry about him. Junmyeon wasn't the type to let personal feelings get in the way of his work, especially knowing there was literally no other way for Yixing to get what he needed. The worst case scenario of death came up again, but he also thought about the last time he lost a merchant. He married a dragon.

Yixing couldn't say that he didn't deserve Junmyeon running off and marrying a dragon if that was the case. That didn't make him any less jealous of the fictional newlywed Kim dragon.

He couldn't stop himself from thinking about it but Yixing worked through it the best he could. He began the same slow path back to normal that his father took, working on rationing the supplies he did have and throwing himself back into the routine of going to the village during the day and working on his studies in the evening. He even opened his curse book for the first time, looking at the work of those that came before him so he could think of what steps he would take. He owed it to himself to live, he reminded himself. If he couldn't make things right with Junmyeon again then the least he could do never forget that. He needed to live, hurt, disappointment and all.

"Ah, Qiaoen! Brother's late but he's here! Set up for our tea please!"

"Okay okay!"

The most important part of his routine that he needed to get back to was his time with Qiaoen. It was hard at first, since she asked after Junmyeon, but after a few times with no good answer from Yixing she gave up on the topic. After a while more she even stopped mentioning the fairy tea she missed. One more step down that path to normality. Yixing sat at their table in the corner as Qiaoen ran back and forth between there and the kitchen, bringing all the dishes she needed to set the table. "Don't run, you'll break something."

"We have more mugs," Qiaoen said without a care. Yixing laughed. "I meant one of your bones. And really, don't run with the kettle. You know better and I don't want you getting burned."

"I have more bones. Skin too." Yixing was left at a loss for words for a second as he wondered how to explain the right but wrong of that statement to the girl. The soft chime of the bell attached to the inn's front door chimed and Qiaoen looked up. Her eyes widened. "I'll go get another mug!" "Sweetheart you don't hav--she's gone." Yixing’s breath caught in his throat.

"Wait did you bring the tea with you?"

Yixing stood suddenly and turned, watching Junmyeon pull from his sleeve the familiar pouch that held the fairy tea Qiaoen dearly loved. She squealed and threw her arms around Junmyeon. He pet her hair fondly and smiled but the look fell when he met Yixing's eyes. Qiaoen sped off again, promising to be back quickly before leaving the two men alone. The silence between them was unbearable.

“I won’t stay,” Junmyeon said finally. Beneath his arm he held two familiar parcels that he set on the table nearest to him, not stepping closer to Yixing. “I’m sorry for the delay. It’s free this month because of it.” His words were stiff and formal and they tore at Yixing’s heart. He bowed and Yixing longed to see the smile that usually followed. It never came. “Until next month.”

He knew that he could live his life without resignation and regrets like his father wanted for him without Junmyeon there. Now that he knew Junmyeon was alive and okay he could put the budding romance behind them and keep going on. Life would go on, he reminded himself as Junmyeon left the inn, his heart sinking. It would go on.

And if he really left without saying something to Junmyeon it would go on while he thought himself a fool every single day of it.

Yixing hurried to his feet and stumbled after him. “Junmyeon!” Junmyeon stopped at the door, his hand on the knob. He didn’t turn Yixing’s way. He blurt out the first thing that came to his mind.

“Did you find a dragon?”

Junmyeon looked to him then. His expression went from closed off to puzzled. If Yixing wasn’t nearly buzzing with nerves and anxiety he would have laughed. “Excuse me?”

“The last time my supplier disappeared without notice his apprentice came to tell me he married a dragon. Will everyone marry a dragon and leave me behind?” Junmyeon stared, motionless.

“No dragon,” he said. And then he left. Just walked out. Yixing froze for just a moment. Then he quickly followed along behind him. He couldn't think of what he needed to say to Junmyeon to get him to stop, to earn forgiveness, so he trailed behind him silently, followed him out of the village square and onto the path that would lead him out of the village entirely. Junmyeon didn't have to say anything for him to know that when he left Yixing that he wouldn't come back, late or ever.

"You wouldn't stay."

It didn't feel like the right thing for him to say but Junmyeon was nearly at the edge of the village. The words at least got Junmyeon to stop. Yixing stopped as well, keeping the bit of distance between them. "I cannot compete with the world, I can't take that from you by asking you to stay here with me. And that's all I wanted to do, to ask you to stay."

Junmyeon began walking again. Yixing felt like he was going choke on his own heart. He followed again, words flowing freely from him. "I was scared, I didn't want to fall in love only to lose you one day because you wouldn't--"

"You shouldn't assume--"

Junmyeon whipped around to face him just as Yixing felt the familiar grip on his body. A multitude of gray arms shot out of the earth around his feet and grabbed at his legs and ankles, holding him still. He'd reached his limit.

Junmyeon sprang forward. He pushed Yixing backward and together they tumbled to the ground. Yixing felt the holds on him release, all save for a ghostly hand on his ankle.

"What is that?" Junmyeon sat up and reached out to grab the hand but his own passed right through it. It didn't disappear until Yixing sat up and pulled his leg close to him, far enough from the edge of the village for the curse to be satisfied.

"I didn't mean to go so far out but..." He met Junmyeon's worried eyes. "That's what it is and what it probably will be for my whole life, you--"

"Stop." Junmyeon narrowed his eyes at him and Yixing dropped his gaze. "I need to apologize," he continued after a few beats. Yixing lift his head again.

"No!"

"Let me finish please." Junmyeon crossed his legs and sighed. "I overstepped, and I know I did. I shouldn't have come in like a knight trying to rescue you from a tower. You have a right to be angry at me for that. But you shouldn't have assumed what my response would be to questions you never asked and then lash out at me for it. I didn't know you wanted me to stay with you."

"I did." Yixing could barely hear his own voice.

“Then that’s what you should say, instead of pushing me away before I have a chance to defend what I feel for you.”

Junmyeon turned away from him before getting back up onto his feet. He held out a hand to Yixing, pulling him off the ground. He continued to hold onto Yixing’s hand. “I’m running far behind on my route, can we talk about this more next time?”

“Will you come back?” A hint of a smile crossed Junmyeon’s lips.

“If I don’t find a dragon by then.”

\--

Yixing was faced with his usual restlessness the night before Junmyeon was due to arrive the following month. It was excitement for the most part, but some of it was anxiousness. What if they were going to talk about the end of them?

He spent the better part of his night up with a cup of tea, stewing over the question. The sun had just started to rise in the sky when he decided to stop his worrying. He admitted his mistake, to himself and to Junmyeon. The rest of it was up to things outside of his control. By the end of the day he'd either be starting down another path with Junmyeon or on a new path on his own, but no matter what he would be moving on with a new outlook.

Just shy of noon Yixing put on his robes and made his way into the village square. His heart raced when he caught sight of the familiar booth awaiting him there. Junmyeon stood behind it, talking with the baker as he fixed a bag of tea for him. Yixing was more than happy to stand off to the side and wait for them to finish, happy to watch him smile and laugh as he made small talk. Yixing didn't think it was possible to miss a smile as much as he did.

Yixing greeted the baker when he passed him by. He then stepped up to the free spot at the counter. A rabbit caught his eye, sitting towards the end of the counter next to a jar labeled 'peach tea'. Its nose twitched and it began to scoot in Yixing's direction.

Junmyeon caught it before it could hop any further. "I wondered where it went to," Yixing said, watching as it was whisked away under Junmyeon's hat.

"I have to hide her, otherwise she's mistaken for an ingredient. Some wizards I know have had rabbits as pets, but better safe than sorry."

It was quiet between them for what felt like an eternity. Junmyeon was smiling at him though, wide and bright. The silence was broken by the book that Yixing dropped onto the counter. He slid it towards Junmyeon. “I think I have it this time.”

Junmyeon fished a magnifying glass from beneath his booth with one hand, flipped the book open with another. “You were wrong,” Yixing started as Junmyeon looked through his, “to try and rush in to fix my curse without asking.”

Junmyeon didn’t miss a beat. “I’m sorry.”

“And I was wrong for pushing you away.”

“I understand.” Silence again, except for the occasional crinkle of the turn of pages. “Will you ask me to stay?”

“No.” Yixing had thought long and hard about that when he watched Junmyeon leave the month before. Junmyeon lowered the magnifying glass and met Yixing’s eyes. Yixing smiled at him. “I don’t care about that. I just want to enjoy the time with you when you are here. I want to be with you now, I won’t lose that thinking about where you might be tomorrow.”

“I feel the same.”

If Yixing’s smile got any wider his cheeks would get sore.

“You’d whistle your tongue off.”

That helped the situation. Junmyeon turned his book around on the counter, his finger pointed at a line somewhat in the middle of Yixing’s latest work. “Right here. The rest of it wouldn’t matter because you wouldn’t have a tongue or a lower lip.”

Junmyeon laughed when Yixing snatched the book away, tucking it back into his sleeve with a pout. “Next time, for sure. You’re starting to get the structure down. Before you know it you’ll know what to put in that structure.”

“This is going to take me centuries to figure out.” Yixing sighed and dug out the gold for his supplies. Junmyeon shrugged.

“I don’t mind coming back for a century while you figure it out.”

Warmth and happiness flooded through him. Yixing fought back his smile. “And you?”

“Me what?”

“I have my own secret you should be working on. I want my turn to laugh too.” Junmyeon’s pretty eyes went wide.

“Oh, I haven’t--”

“Then it’s time to get started. We shouldn’t waste time. You should come by, if you haven’t already rented a room.”

Later that evening Junmyeon was back in his living room. He stood in awe in front of Yixing’s shelves of spells like he did the first time, hands raised, fingers stretched out towards the jars. Yixing didn’t let himself get too caught up in watching him marvel. “Come here first.”

Junmyeon stood beside him at his work table. Yixing’s fingers played at the edge of the surface, just in front of the large book he normally avoided. “This is my curse. What we know of it and have learned of it, anyway.”

“Yixing, you don’t have to share this with me.” He met Junmyeon’s eyes.

“I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else. We won’t break the curse, but if I’m going to try, I’d like your help.”

Junmyeon kissed him. Reached out to him, a hand on his cheek, and kissed him. Yixing couldn’t express the combination of feelings if he tried. When Junmyeon pulled back Yixing brushed their noses together.

“I don’t think true love’s kiss is the solution to this one.” It took a few moments for them to control their laughter enough to open the book and get to work.

\--

“I found a loophole!”

Yixing was caught off guard by another off schedule night visit from Junmyeon. It was by no means unwelcome, he was happy to step aside and let him into his house, it was just very surprising. The last time he was on time when Yixing expected him to be late, this time he was a week early. Stopping to see him would through his schedule way off. From what he told Yixing during their last visit he only just got back to his normal route.

Yixing closed his door and followed behind Junmyeon to his work table. Over the past few months all of his old work had been cleared away to make room for the studies they were doing on Yixing’s curse. So far it was just a wealth of stray papers containing a mix of Yixing and Junmyeon’s handwriting that summarized what they read in the thick book. They were only just getting done with that; next week they were supposed to start working through and ruling out the obvious solutions and why they wouldn’t work. They were thinking that by itself would at least take 5 or more months.

But here Junmyeon was, bursting in with talk of a loophole. “What loophole?”

“When I left here last month I started thinking of all the obvious solutions, like we were talking about, and then it just hit me in the face.” Junmyeon shifted through their stacks of papers.

“What did?”

When Junmyeon had the paper he was looking for in his hands he finally stopped moving and looked at Yixing.

“You know about dragons, fairies, about a halfling girl who has been beside you for years without you noticing. And you haven’t even scratched the surface. Humans are funny about this. I've told you, they like the fantasy of us, but they treat the reality of us much different, if they choose to acknowledge us at all. And when they ignore us, things like this happen. They write spells and curses worded with humans in mind. That's not a problem for me.”

Us. The wording didn't slip past Yixing at all. He stayed silent as Junmyeon unhooked the collar of his robe. 

“I'm not strong enough to break your curse, but you are.”

“I can't,” Yixing reminded him softly, still watching Junmyeon take off his robes. He realized that it was the first time he'd ever done that, at least where Yixing could see. Junmyeon smiled. It was that same little smile he gave when he was getting ready to tell Yixing that he once again failed to discover the secret to his whistling. 

“But I can help with that. I couldn't call myself a spell writer with a straight face if I couldn't change one line of a curse.”

“No Zhang can break this curse,” Yixing said it so softly that he could barely hear himself but Junmyeon nodded, smiling wildly. 

“Would you like me to tell you the secret?” Junmyeon opened the front of his robe. He was dressed simply underneath, in a white shirt and beige slacks. Yixing shook his head. Junmyeon fell short of actually taking the robe off. “Really? Do you want to keep guessing?”

“I figured it out. You're not human.”

In the silence Junmyeon's smile widened. “I think that's the closest you've ever gotten.”

Yixing gaped. “That's still not right?” 

“Incomplete answer, no credit.” Yixing reached out to throw the first thing he could find at that handsome face that was snickering at him. “Try again?”

“Halfling?” 

“Yes! Still incomplete, no credit.” 

“What's left!?”

“Why does me being a halfling matter? Halfing magic can be different but it can also be the same magic humans use.”

Yixing was getting a little frustrated but he wasn't giving up. He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about it, also watching as Junmyeon stripped himself of his robe and carefully folded it. 

He noticed it at once, the gray patches of skin that covered his neck. They continued on down his chest, disappearing beneath his shirt. When Junmyeon pushed up his sleeves his saw them there as well. Junmyeon shifted under his gaze, adjusting the loose collar of his shirt and doing up another button so it covered a bit more. 

Immediately embarrassed for staring Yixing met Junmyeon's eyes. "Well?"

"This would be rude to guess right? What your race is? Shouldn't I let you tell me?"

Yixing felt that Junmyeon had been kind of tense but wasn't sure of it until he relaxed at Yixing's question. "I'll let you. I'm even going to give you a big hint. Let's do this first." 

Junmyeon grabbed his bag and from it pulled a small vial of orange liquid, a bowl, a bigger glass bottle filled with a black substance, a lemon, and a knife. "Can I move the table?" 

Together they pushed the table against the bookshelf. Yixing remained standing by it as Junmyeon poured the black fluid into his bowl and used it to draw out a large circle on his floor. "Sit there." After cutting the lemon Junmyeon joined him in the circle. It was just big enough for the both of them, their knees bumping together when Junmyeon crossed his legs. He handed Yixing the vial of orange and the lemon wedge. "Drink this. The lemon helps with the aftertaste."

The liquid tasted like everything wrong in the world when it slid across his tongue. Yixing gagged and fumbled with the lemon. He could hear Junmyeon failing to suppress his laughter but he also guided the lemon to his lips. The juice cut into the bitterness easily, turning the flavor into something just sweet enough to tolerate. All the magic in the world, known and unknown, and there still wasn’t a way to make a potion taste tolerable without screwing it up. His expression must have mirrored his thoughts because Junmyeon held out another lemon wedge for him. 

Yixing sucked at it as he watched Junmyeon set up further. He looked down at their bumping knees, his nose wrinkled in thought for a moment before he shifted backwards and opened his legs. He muttered something Yixing didn’t catch as he leaned forward to grab Yixing’s legs. Junmyeon pushed them open and pulled Yixing forward until Yixing’s knees were locked over Junmyeon’s thighs and they were incredibly close.

“This is a bit more comfortable right?” Yixing nodded before pulling the lemon from his mouth. The position was plenty comfortable, it was just a little--

“It’s not distracting for you?” Junmyeon shook his head as he turned slightly to reach for one of his bowls. “Not even a little? Because it’s distracting for me.” Junmyeon turned around again, their noses just about brushing when Yixing leaned forward. Junmyeon’s lips formed an o and Yixing was left to believe that the positioning was really for the innocent intention that Junmyeon said it was for, leaving him equal parts taken by how cute Junmyeon could be and a little disappointed.

“It will be distracting,” Junmyeon amended with a soft voice, the corner of his lip pulling his mouth into a grin. “But I can’t do this blindfolded on the other side of the room, so I’ll try to focus.” He rubbed their noses together and Yixing sighed pleasantly.

“What if I can’t?” Yixing teased once Junmyeon pulled back. Junmyeon laughed until the corner of his eyes wrinkled up.

“Then you can close your eyes.” So he did, puckering his lips up as well. He expected the laugh that he got but was pleasantly surprised by the quick kiss he received after the noise died down. Yixing opened an eye. Junmyeon still got a little pink in the face when he kissed him.

“Still distracted. It’s worse now. Maybe another kiss would help.”

“Close your eyes and behave.” Junmyeon gave his leg a little slap. The last thing he noticed was Junmyeon dipping the tips his fingers into the black fluid he had. “You’ll get to open them again.”

“When do I open them?”

“You’ll know. You’ll feel a little different, and then you’ll know when.”

Junmyeon inhaled deeply, exhaled heavily. He repeated it three times. And then he spoke. And then he sang.

The language was one he’d never heard before. The notes of the words scratched over his skin at first and he flinched, shutting his eyes tighter to protect himself against them. Junmyeon’s hand rubbed soothing circles against his leg and his other brushed up against his cheek. Just like the lemon, they served to turn the harsh singing into something much more soothing. Yixing relaxed, not feeling sleepy but heavier. And very warm. Content. Junmyeon’s words felt peaceful, safe, hopeful.

Yixing opened his eyes, fell into Junmyeon’s.

“Are you coming back? There you are.”

Yixing blinked, looking up at Junmyeon. Junmyeon smiled at him. He was over him. When did he lay down? Junmyeon rubbed a finger against his cheek softly.

“Don’t think too hard, you won’t remember anything. I just sang but it can be a bit harsh your first time. Better for you to be in a trance.”

“You’re a siren,” Yixing said, leaning into Junmyeon’s touch.

“Full credit.” Yixing reached a hand up to hold the one against his face. “Do you feel any different?”

“Yes. I’m in love.” Junmyeon looked away from him but he couldn’t hide his smile.

“I meant curse wise. I have to see if it worked.”

“I don’t care. I love you. I love you even if it doesn’t work, even if I die here, if you go somewhere far away. I love you as a siren, dragon, halfing, I don’t care. I love--”

Junmyeon stopped the sudden rush of love from him with a kiss.

The next morning Yixing stood with Junmyeon just a few steps away from the edge of the village. Junmyeon wouldn’t let Yixing go any further with him; the arms of the wronged dead bothered him. “I’ll see you next week?”

“Next week?” Junmyeon had a tendency to pout when he was confused. Yixing adored it.

“Yes, I still expect you to keep your schedule! That’s how I decide how I ration. So next week. Unless you want to stay until then?”

“I wish I could. But if I’m coming back I should hurry through my other stops.” Junmyeon took his hand and kissed his knuckles. He was sure his heart stopped for 5 seconds.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Junmyeon let go of his hand and, eventually, Yixing let go of his. “While you’re gone I’ll try to break a curse.”

After they pulled themselves away from each other the night before they looked at the papers that Junmyeon grabbed. They were all the same, save for one line. ‘No Zhang, no human sympathy can break this curse’. Junmyeon had done it, altered it just enough to where it was no longer unbreakable. Yixing was so overwhelmed with love, not because of the success of it, but because Junmyeon bothered trying at all. He meant it, even if he died as he thought he would, in the same village he never left, he would love Junmyeon.

But he couldn’t deny that he was a little excited. He let a glimmer of hope shine in him as they parted ways and Yixing went home. Maybe they could break it.

\--

Curse breaking had to be pushed to the side.

Qiaoen showed signs of magic ability.

After the initial, overwhelming shock of it Yixing poured all his time into her, got Junmyeon to do the same. They were the only two other wizards in the village after all, and she needed guidance. Junmyeon questioned how it could be possible when the Zhangs were the only wizards that had ever lived in the village, but to Yixing that question was the last of his worries. Yixing suddenly found himself in the role of mentor and teacher and he took that very seriously.

After months and months of exhaustive testing--exhaustive because Qiaoen found the whole process boring compared to what she would thought it would be and wouldn’t sit still--Yixing and Xiaolu, with Junmyeon’s help, came to the decision to send her to the divination school that Sehun attended.

“What will it be like?”

Qiaoen stood beside him as he picked books off of his bookshelf, grabbing what he thought would be useful to her. “I don’t know. I never went to school. My father taught me. You’ll have to tell me what it’s like when you get there.”

“Why didn’t you go to school?”

Yixing stacked three books on his work table and set one in Qiaoen’s arms. “I can’t leave the village.” She was old enough to know that already but Yixing didn’t mind reminding her.

“Do you want to?”

“Yes.”

“Would you come back?”

“Of course.”

Yixing had thought about that question during some of his restless night. If he could leave the village, would he come back? Or would he go and start somewhere fresh, somewhere where no one knew of his cursed lineage.

He would come back. Not only because the village was the only home he’d ever know, but because the villagers needed him. Like right now, as he got Qiaoen ready to go away to school for the first time. And when they needed him to heal, and to help the crops. Yixing wouldn’t dare leave them behind. He was cursed to stay but he helped them of his own volition. He wouldn’t abandon them.

“Then you should go, like me,” she concluded. “Go and come back sometimes.”

“Maybe one day.” Yixing stacked another book in her arms. “I think that’s it. Let’s go, we don’t want to keep brother Junmyeon waiting.”

Junmyeon volunteered to take Qiaoen to school, giving up his usual couple of days with Yixing for the month. “Thank you,” Yixing said for the hundredth time when he saw him and the wagon he brought just for the occasion. Junmyeon kissed his cheek.

“Anytime.” The both of them watched as Qiaoen was swept up into her mother’s arms, littered with kisses and warnings to behave. “Tell her that Sehun will keep an eye out for her. She’ll be okay.”

“I will.”

Yixing settled in the back of the wagon, letting Xiaolu take her time. When she was finally ready to let her daughter go Qiaoen ran to Yixing, joining him in the back of the wagon. “Will you ride with me?”

“For a little while.” At least until they got close to the edge of the village.

Qiaoen chattered on excitedly Junmyeon whistled the wagon on its way. She shared every theory of what she thought school would be like and Yixing indulged her with his own. He was a little sad to see her go; for a brief moment he had a fellow in the village, but he was also very excited. She’d get the experience he couldn’t have. He couldn’t wait for her to get there.

They passed by the old, wilting tree that Yixing used to gauge his limit. They were close enough. Yixing pulled her in to hug her and Qiaoen held him tightly. He fought the tears building in his eyes.

“Behave. Listen to brother Sehun. And have fun.”

“I will,” she promised. She sounded like she was fighting tears as well. “Take care of my mom.”

“I will. Send me letters.”

“I will.”

Yixing held onto her a little longer than he should have. He was worried that she would be frightened when the arms of his curse snatched him away but--

They never came.

They never came.

The wagon abruptly stopped. Yixing pulled away from Qiaoen and looked to Junmyeon, realizing the same thing at the same time.

They left the village.

Just barely, maybe a few steps. But the wagon left the village, with Yixing in it. No arms in sight.

He left the village.

\--

_‘What’s first?’_

Snow had just begun to fall when they arrived at a tall, iron gate. Yixing noticed a design of a phoenix in it as Junmyeon got out of their wagon and pushed it open. Junmyeon hurried back and whistled the wagon on up the path that led to a castle in the mountain side. Yixing stared at it the whole way up. It got even more beautiful as they got closer to it.

A familiar face awaited them at the castle doors. “Look at you! Barely cursed at all!”

Minseok hadn’t aged a day. It was like Yixing had just saw him. He opened his arms and Yixing stumbled out of the wagon to hug him. “I trust Junmyeon’s been treating you well?” Yixing opened his mouth but Minseok shook his head. “The look on your face is enough. He’s charming isn’t he? Come on, come in out of the cold and you can tell me the love story while we wait for Jongdae.”

Instead of their love story, Yixing and Junmyeon told Minseok of Yixing’s curse. If anyone would know what happened and how it broke it would be Minseok. He was one of the greatest curse breakers alive.

Candlelight lit the castle by the time Yixing was finished with the story. Minseok nodded thoughtfully, sipping some of the wine he poured for them.

“It was lifted,” he concluded. Yixing waited for more. Minseok took another sip of wine.

“How?”

“There are only three ways to break a curse. The first is time, which doesn’t apply to you, your curse is blood, it’s forever. The second is the hard way, my way. You couldn’t do it my way, which only leaves one other way, the easy way. The person who placed the curse lifted it.”

Junmyeon shook his head. “She’s dead.”

“A family member then,” Minseok went on. “Sometimes when the curse is being laid the person doesn’t consider the possibility of someone of their bloodline wanting to break the curse.”

Yixing bit the inside of his cheek. That wasn’t right, they were dead too.

_“I can’t leave the village.”_

_“Do you want to?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Would you come back?”_

_“Of course.”_

_“Then you should go.”_

Qiaoen. They didn’t know her father...was there a chance that was she was part of the blood that could lift the curse?

Yixing knew that he would have to look into it. But at the same time, he also knew he was miles and miles away from the village. Minseok told him to enjoy himself as he led them to where they would spend the night.

Yixing pushed his way out onto the balcony of their room. Immediately his breath was taken away by the view. He turned around, wanting to tell Junmyeon to join him, but found that he was being whisked away by Minseok. Junmyeon was able to give him an apologetic wave before he disappeared from the doorway. "I'll be here!" Yixing shouted for his sake before giving his attention back to the mountains and clouds that stretched out in front of him under the dying sunlight. He inhaled deeply, the chilly air cutting into his lungs, and he laughed. He cried a little bit too, but soon the tears were overwhelmed by his child like joy.

"You'll catch a cold standing out here like this." 

The sun had long ago given away to the moon and the stars by the time Junmyeon returned. He had his head poked out of the balcony door to speak to Yixing. "Come inside." 

"Stand here with me," he suggested instead. Junmyeon tucked himself back inside and shut the door. Taking it as a polite decline Yixing went back to his star gazing. A few minutes later the door clicked opened again.

"I've never been here at night, now that I think about it." Junmyeon draped one end of a blanket over Yixing's shoulder and wrapped himself with the other side. He held out a mug. It was warm in Yixing's hands. "I didn't think it could get this cold." 

"It's beautiful," Yixing said softly, scooting closer to Junmeyon's side. "Thank you for bringing me." 

Months ago he couldn't even conceive of something like this, standing on the balcony of a dragon's castle and staring out at the stars with his lover by his side. Part of him still couldn’t believe it wasn’t a dream.

“What’s next?”

He go home, of course. Yixing still had to handle things there: find out Qiaoen’s father, take care of the villagers. But after that?

He looked to Junmyeon. “I want to go to your home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/toosooksoo/)

**Author's Note:**

> stayed tuned for part 2! i'm excited for it and hopefully you are too!


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